Although The Phantom Tollbooth is largely regarded as a children’s book, I never gained full appreciation for it until I reread it this year. The book consists of so many intricate concepts that my fifth grade self skipped over. Present day me, however, read through each chapter with care and admiration as a well-thought out storyline unfolded before me.
While reading, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I came across cleverly constructed puns, from jumping to the Island of Conclusions to the many misinterpretations of the Everpresent Wordsnatcher (after all, he did leave the land of Context). The Phantom Tollbooth also played around with a major idea in language: names. The names of each character revealed a lot about their own personality through the usage of various literary techniques. For example, the alliteration present in the names of each of king Azaz’s advisors was very well placed and KAKOFONOUS A. DISCHORD’S character was developed not only through his name but through the manner in which it was written. Since I have grown into a big language arts nerd, I found Juster’s unique usage of traditional writing concepts to be very refreshing.
Another thing that impressed me about The Phantom Tollbooth was the emphasis Juster placed on setting and how that affected each of his characters. Setting is a vital part of storytelling, and Juster gave each place he talked about a background and added vivid imagery in order to make readers feel as if they were there themselves. It was fascinating how constructs we are familiar with today -English, math, reality, and illusion- were transformed into physical locations with unexpected takes. In Reality, for example, all citizens walked staring at their shoes and did not pause to view the beauty of the world around them until all of there was to see eventually disappear. Many of the settings presented even reflected moods, exposing the highs and lows of human life, our struggles and our values. It was strange and exciting to see many mental states I’ve experienced in a physical and quantitative form, yet have it accurately depict all the intricacies of that intangible concept.
What stuck with me most from the novel, is the method through which all of the characters were shaped. Many of the creatures Milo encountered throughout his journey were very eccentric and created through a grotesque format (where a certain attribute of a character is enhanced to convey a message). The symbolic relevance of each character varies, but most were created to describe a lesson from English or math, a moral value, or a fatal flaw. Two of my favorites included the giant/midget/fat/thin man and Canby. The man who identified with many terms placed himself under labels because he wished to feel important, as he felt that “there are so many ordinary men that no one asks their opinion about anything.” He also stressed the importance of perspective, as people would view him from different lenses in comparison to how they viewed themselves; to fat men he would be thin, and to short men he would be a giant. Canby also resonated with me because of his representation of the duality of man. He could be the dumbest and the smartest person on earth while also being the most generous and most selfish. Canby reminds readers that you can possess even the most opposing traits at various times but that both are a part of who you are, and others most view you and accept you for each.
The Phantom Tollbooth has some great lessons to teach regardless of what age it is read at. Whether one looks for ways to expand their writing stylistically, to read something unique, or just to laugh at all the endearing characters and plot twists, it is a novel which will not disappoint. To anyone who has read The Phantom Tollbooth as a child: read it again and it will really open your eyes.
